The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-08-03
THE PROHIBITION QUESTION
Ex President Jefferson Davis and
Senator Elect John 81. Reagan.
Mr.. Davis Fagors temperance by Moral Sua-
sion, but Opposes Prohibitory Legislation.
Mr.. Reagan Maintains that Prohibition is the
Rightful Remedy.

BEAUvo1R, MISS, July 10, 1887.
Col F. R. Lubbock Fort Worth, Texas:
MT DEAR FRIEND = Yours of the 18th
inst, with its enclosure, has been received.
have hitherto declined to answer any
of the inquiries made for my opinion on
the constitutional amendment now pending
in Texas. My reason for not replying was
an unwillingness to enter into a contro-
versy in which my friends in Texas stood
arrayed against each other. In de ,,artins
from the rule heretofore observed, trust
that it will not be an unwarranted intru-
sion.
Reared in the creed of Democracy, my
faith in its tenets has grown with Its growth,
and l adhere to the maxim that ''the world
is governed too much.n
When our fathers achieved their indie
pendence the cornerstone of the govern
ment they constructed was individual lib
erty, and the social organizations they
established were not for the surrender, but
for the protection of natural rights. For
this governments were established, deriv-
ing their just powers from the consent of
the governed. This was not to subject
themselves to the will of the majority, as
appears from the fact that each commu-
nifty inserted in its fundamental law a
ileges of the individual
There was, then, two-fold purpose in
government - protection and prevention
against trespasses by the strong upon the
| weak, the many on the few.
The world had long suffered from the
| expressions of government under the pre-
text of ruling by divine right, and excus-
ing the invasion into private and domes-
| tic affairs on the plea of paternal care for
the morals and good order of the PEG
pie.
Our sires rejected all such pretensions
| their systems being Government by the
| people for the people, and resting on
the basis of natural, inalienable rights
| Upon the basis of these general PROPOSE
| tions, / will briefly answer the inquiry in
| regard to the prohibition amendment al
| issue.
BE ye temperate in all things was a
wise Injunction and would apply to intol-
| erance as well as to drunkenness. That
the Incorporate use of intoxicating liquors
is an evil, few, if any, would deny.
That it is at the root of many social dis
orders is conceded, but then the question
arises, what is the appropriate remedy
and what the present necessity? To de-
| stroy individual responsibility would be tc
1 oAaOAOdtS Oue SN1 Dy In6 SUBSTITUTION Oh
another, which is admitted would be more
fatal than that for which it was offered as
a remedy. The abuse, and not the use OF
stlmulants, it must be confessed, is the evil
to be remedied. Then it clearly follows that
action should clearly be directed against
| the abuse rather than the use If drunken
I ness be the cause of disorder and crime
why not pronounce drunkenness itself to be
a crime, and attach to it proper and ade-
quate penaltiesf If it be objected that the
penalties could not be enforced, that is an
admission that popular opinion would be
| opposed to the law but if it be true that
| juries could not be empanneled who would
| convict so degrading criminal as a drunk
| ard, it necessarily follows that a statutory
prohibition against the sale and use of in
toxicants would be dead letter.
The next branch of the inquiry is as t.
the present necessity.
/ might appeal to men not as old as my
| self to sustain the assertion that the con.
vivial use ofintoxicants, and the occurrence
of drunkenness had become less frequent
within the last twenty years than it was
before. The refining influence of educa
ton and Christianity may be credited will
this result. Why not allow these blessed
handmaidens of virtue and morality to con
Lluue uueInDdTFd5S6u In6lF clN1lZlOG Work
| The parties to this discussion in your State
have no doubt brought forward the stats
teal facts in regard to the effect produced
in other States by this effort to contro
morals by legislation, and 1 will not en-
cumber this letter by any reference to thost
facts.
You have already provision for local pro
hibition If it has proved the wooden horse
in which a disguised enemy to State SOY
iereignty as the guardian of individual lib
erty was introduced, let it be warning
that the progressive march would prob
ably be from village to State and from
State to United States-a governmental
supervision and paternity instead o.
the liberty the heroes of 1776 lief
as a legacy to their posterity. Impell
ed by the affection and gratitude | feel fol
the people of Texas, and the belief that
great question of American policy is in
volved in the issue you have before you
the silence had hoped to observe has beer
broken. If the utterance shall avail any
thing for good it will compensate me fol
the objurgations with which | shall doubt
less be pursued by the followers of tn,
popular ism of the day.
hope the many who have addressed m'
letters of inquiry on the same subject vii
accept this as an answer, though somewha
long delayed.
Faithfully yours,
JEFFERSON DAVIS